Reboot daily, Tablet users advised

Microsoft has publicly acknowledged the Tablet PC bug that eats up the computer's memory until the machine crashes. The out of control memory leak remains unchecked while Redmond's Red Adairs grapple to put a lid on the blow-out. But there's no word yet of exactly when a fix will be issued.

"Progress is being made and there'll be an update soon," a spokesman told us. "For now, we advise users to reboot the machine on a daily basis," he added.

The leak is hard to avoid. It's in the digitizer software, tabtip.exe. Users can buy a third party digitizer, or attach a USB keyboard. Another fix users have cobbled together is batch file which kills and restarts the tabtip.exe process.

There are also other reasons for rebooting XP daily, as Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble explains:

"I shut down my Tablet PC most evenings and start it up from a fresh boot. Why do I do that? Because I’ve been using computers for 20 years and have learned that’s the best way to work.

"It takes an extra minute in the morning to boot up, but that’s why I never hit this bug."

Every day, and in lots of little ways, we become wiser about such things. Before joining Microsoft, lardy lad used to work for Harvard man Dave Winer, so his credentials are impeccable, and his judgment can not be doubted.

Let's hope this doesn't affect Tablet PC users in any mission critical, life threatening environment. Corridor warriors, on whichever front they are, need the best in reliable equipment. ®